"On Pandora the animals are strange, menacing and beautiful all at once. These six-legged muscular creatures exude a sense of grace and nobleness, which I wanted to convey. I wanted my designs to be a tribute to nature." - Patrick Martel.

When he dreamed up AVATAR, James Cameron created a coherent, highly structured world with its own set of codes and natural laws, including a living, breathing ecosystem with an exotic fauna. When the creators of TORUK – The First Flight decided to evoke the creatures of Pandora on stage they could easily have turned to animatronics – animal figures animated by means of electromechanical devices. Instead, they chose to create bona fide puppets where the strings, rod or controls are intentionally left visible and the puppeteers are in full view. Regardless of the technique, the goal remains to urge the spectator to suspend disbelief for a moment – to create the illusion that these are not mere objects made of metal and cloth, but living beings from a faraway moon.

In TORUK – The First Flight, 16 puppets represent the creatures of Pandora: six Viperwolves, three Direhorses, three Austrapedes, one Turtapede, two swarms of Woodsprites, and one Toruk. While the Viperwolves and Direhorses are directly inspired by the movie, the Austrapedes and the Turtapede were created from scratch. “Not only did we want to please AVATAR fans, we wanted to surprise them too,” says Patrick. But the responsibility of adding new species to Pandora’s fauna was not taken lightly. The features of these new six-limbed creatures had to be consistent with the morphological standards of Pandora. And they are.

{Viperwolf} {Viperwolf} {Direhorse} {Direhorse} {Austrapede} {Austrapede} {Turtapede} {Turtapede} {Woodsprites} {Leonopteryx}

Since weight is an important factor when building large-scale puppets, most structures are made of aluminum or, whenever possible, carbon fiber, a material as flexible as it is lightweight. The inside of the puppets is Plastazote, which is ultra-light polyethylene foam. Stretch fabrics such as Lycra are used for the creatures’ skin, while the wings of Toruk are cut from polyester silk. The textures and patterns on the outside were printed using a technique called sublimation, which fixes the images in the fibers of the material.

• Viperwolf – With its low-slung head and snakelike jaw, the Viperwolf is a swift, fiercely intelligent animal that hunts in packs. The puppeteer uses his hands to control the upper body and articulated head of the Viperwolf, working each of the four front legs with his hand. The puppeteer moves the animal’s hind legs by giving the puppet a specific swinging motion. The Viperwolf puppet has green luminous eyes, is illuminated from the inside, and glows red and blue.
  
  
• Direhorse – The Direhorse is a wild, frisky animal. Two puppeteers work in unison inside the structure. The first controls the front part, including neck and head; his legs become the creature’s two front legs. The second puppeteer controls the middle legs with his hands; his legs become the animal’s hind legs. The puppeteers stand on platform shoes to better convey the creature’s impressive size.
  
  
• The Austrapede – With its long, thin neck and tail and its long, narrow bill, the Austrapede is a relatively small creature by Pandoran standards. The Austrapedes are impulsive, fidgety creatures whose emotions spread quickly from one individual to the other by a form of mimicry. A single puppeteer housed inside controls the neck and head with one hand, using his other hand to work the wings, which start flapping whenever the Austrapede is frightened. Perched on 7-inch-high platform shoes that give the animal its distinct hop, the puppeteer can see through the animal’s gills, which are a common feature of Pandoran fauna.
  
  
• The Turtapede – With its large dorsal fin and tail, the Turtapede is agile in shallow water. The puppeteer moves the sea-dwelling creature by pushing on the structure. He uses his arms to move the creature’s legs. The shell of the Turtapede has iridescent patterns that shimmer.
  
  
• The Woodsprites – The two swarms of Woodsprites are actually mobiles manipulated by puppeteers. Inspired by the work of sculptor Alexander Calder, they evoke the Woodsprites in all their aerial lightness and elegance. To reproduce their bioluminescent glow, each of the 20 seeds is equipped with a DEL light.
  
  
• The Toruk, or Great Leonopteryx – The fierce and noble Toruk is an oversized marionette with a 40-foot wingspan. This type of traditional string puppet is usually much smaller and works upside down: the strings are normally manipulated from above instead of from below. The show’s Toruk works by reverse gravity and is suspended from a cable attached to an automation system that controls the creature’s movements in space. Six puppeteers on the ground control the other movements of the creature. It takes one puppeteer to control the head, two to direct the shoulders, two to work the wings, and one to control the tail – all in a synchronized aerial choreography.

Fourteen additional puppets appear in TORUK – The First Flight to evoke various animals on Pandora. These more rudimentary and impressionistic puppets, handcrafted by the Na’vi, are used in various rituals and ceremonies. Without the puppeteers, the fauna in the show would be inert and lifeless. They are the ones who breathe life into the creatures, hence the moniker “Spirits of Eywa.”